A Fried Cod and Frogleg Feast at J-town’s Passtime Fish House
Look at all that fish. Photos by Kevin Gibson
Four years ago, I ventured out to Jeffersontown to have my first meal at the often-recommended Passtime Fish House. My intent was to take my Dad, a fried-fish-aholic if there ever was one, but time went by, a pandemic arose, and it never happened. Until this week. I’m happy to report that Passtime is still thriving, and serving some darn good fish at a great price.
Yes, it’s a great place to try during Lent, but at Passtime, it’s pretty much fish fry season all year long. Heck, Passtime, which has been a J-town mainstay since 2001, even hails itself as “best fish sandwich in Louisville.”
For the uninitiated, Passtime looks, inside and out, like a roadhouse you might see in a 1970s movie. The faded wood building is peppered with beer signs, as is an attached covered patio area that looks a bit like a really large gazebo. And it’s set back far enough off Watterson Trail — on a “street” named Locust Road (it’s a glorified parking lot through-way) — that you literally can’t make it out from the main road.
Inside you find a long narrow room with a bar and more tables than I cared to try and count, along with more beer signs, dollar bills pasted behind the bar with people’s names scribbled on them and other odds and ends. In essence, it’s a neighborhood bar, but one that has really good seafood and other eats.
The menu is pretty succinct, with the vaunted “nearly famous” cod sandwich as the majestic centerpiece. Appetizers like Buffalo wings, fried chicken livers and chicken fingers lead into a seafood menu with fried shrimp, fried oysters, frog legs, and more. If you’re really feeling it, you can get the Passtime Platter. Not into the seafood? Choose from homemade soups and sandwiches like a burger, grilled cheese, BLT or the “J-Town Ribeye” (fried bologna).
Passtime catfish fingers, circa 2018. Sadly, it was not to be this time around.
I had prepared Dad to open our lunch with an appetizer I’d enjoyed greatly on my first trip to Passtime Fish House: the catfish fingers. We took our seats at the bar, ordered our drinks, and I told the friendly bartender we wanted to start with those delicious catfish strips. He said, “OK,” and disappeared into the kitchen. When he returned, he had sorrowful news. “We’re out of the catfish today,” he said. Sigh. OK, then. Onto our regularly scheduled lunches.
My father is a fish sandwich type of guy, so he got the signature cod sandwich, while I went with frog legs and fries. It wasn’t super busy the day we went, but since the food at Passtime is made to order, be prepared for a bit of a wait. Ours was about 15 minutes, so it wasn’t bad at all. And it’s always worth waiting, at least in my limited experience.
When our food came out, in green plastic baskets lined with red and white deli-style paper, my dad didn’t exactly flinch, but he was obviously impressed with the size of the lightly fried cod filet that gazed up at him. Let’s just say that calling the piece of cod on that sandwich “large” would be like calling the Ohio River “wet.” It’s a huge serving. And it came with two standard sized slices of rye bread, which looked almost comical by comparison. He got fries instead of chips (a couple bucks extra), and it still was just a $10 meal.
I was staring down four ample frog leg pairs which, like the fish, were coated in a breading that is peppery, savory and addictive. I began eating and quickly noted that these particular frog legs had a more, for lack of a better term, seafood-ish flavor than I was expecting. Frog legs often gets the “it tastes like chicken” description, in part because the flesh is mild and clean-tasting. These were a bit more robust in flavor profile, and I enjoyed it.
It didn’t hurt either that they were perfectly prepared, with a crispy shell outside and juicy to the point of nearly dripping inside. They came with a house cocktail sauce that contained plenty of horseradish pop, but I prefer frog either on its own or with hot sauce. In this case, Passtime’s default is the Louisiana Hot Sauce brand, which is a fine choice for a seafood joint. (Just say no thanks to Frank’s.) I looked over, and dad had taken the thinnest end of the cod, doubled it over and placed it between his rye bread to make a sandwich. That left what essentially was a whole other fish and chips meal. I’m not even joking, it was a LOT of fish.
The accompaniment for his sandwich was house-made tartar sauce. I often skip the tartar, but I decided to give it another try (I remember liking it last time, so why not?). Passtime’s bright, savory tartar is done wonderfully, bursting with tart flavor, so if you go, be sure to give it a shot.
I managed to finish off all four frog legs, but only half the fairly basic French fries. Truly, I was stuffed. Dad still had a huge hunk of fish and about half his fries, which he collectively declared to be tomorrow’s lunch. But the bartender had gotten busy and, well, Dad started picking at the fish as we waited to pay. Next thing I knew, he was separating the last bite from its peppery crust and eating the bright white cod plain. I ate the remaining crust and realized I would eat that, sans fish, as a snack if it were available. It’s that good.
Dad noted that he was, of course, stuffed but also had dinner plans that night. "I've got about five hours to make room for more,” he deadpanned. "But I'm going to have to go home and take a nap."
We ran a couple other errands before heading back to my place to part ways, and it was on that final homestretch that I realized something: After-dinner frog leg burps not only sort of taste like frog, they sort of sound like actual frogs, too. How had I never noticed this before?
Anyway, for about 25 bucks, we got stuffed and had a couple of soft drinks. Not at all a bad deal. And Dad did make sure to note that we’ll order the catfish again “next time.” But in retrospect, it might have been better for our digestive systems that we had to take this round off. Not that we’ll learn any lessons because, like I said, my father can eat a lot of fish.
Most Louisvillians have tried Passtime Fish House, but if you haven’t, I highly recommend it. If you go for dinner, though, get there early because it fills up fast. And it’s cash only, although there is an ATM on-site.
